


Spiderman has allergies?

by StarryKnight09



Series: Febuwhump 2021 [21]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man - All Media Types, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Allergies, FebuWhump2021, Gen, Irondad, Not Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Compliant, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-24
Updated: 2021-02-24
Packaged: 2021-03-15 10:40:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,575
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29682708
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StarryKnight09/pseuds/StarryKnight09
Summary: “So Pete,” he said as he finished his own meal, “what’s new with you?”“Nothing much.” Peter shrugged.  “Ned got a new pet.”“Uh huh.” Tony frowned at him.  “Why do you sound like your nose is broken?”Peter rolled his eyes and started walking away toward the couch.  “It’s not.  I’m fine.”  Even though it came out sounding like ‘It’s nob.  I’m fibe.’Tony put his plate in the dishwasher and followed Peter to the couch.  “Ok then, if your nose isn’t broken, why do you sound all weird?”“Allergies.” Peter answered as he flicked through the different channels on the TV.Febuwhump Day 24: allergies
Relationships: Pepper Potts/Tony Stark, Peter Parker & Tony Stark
Series: Febuwhump 2021 [21]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2138670
Comments: 15
Kudos: 214





	Spiderman has allergies?

“Peter’s here!” Pepper called up to him from downstairs.

Tony finished putting his laundry away. He’d become so domesticated ever since Morgan was born and he complained about it even though he secretly loved it. His family was the most important thing to him now. He smiled at that thought. If the Tony from twenty years ago could see him now.

“Do you want some pasta honey?” Tony heard Pepper ask as he made his way down the stairs. “I just finished and there’s plenty left over.” 

“Um maybe just a little? Ned and I had lunch before I left.” Peter answered and there was something about his voice that made Tony frown.

“Hey kid.” He greeted as soon as he came into the kitchen and found a seat next to Peter at the counter. 

“Hey Tony.” Peter responded and again there was something off about the way he sounded.

Pepper finished dishing up the pasta for Peter and slid a full plate across the counter to him.

“Thanks.” Peter said, always with the perfect manners. Thank god Morgan was picking up on some of that. The instant the thought passed through his mind, he felt bad. Peter’s aunt had died in a car accident in the intervening five years between the snap and its reversal, and of course Tony had taken him in, but improving Morgan’s manners definitely wasn’t worth the loss of his kid’s mother figure.

“Are you hungry?” Pepper asked him as he watched Peter dig into his pasta. When he looked over at her, she arched an eyebrow at him, so he knew the question had only been a courtesy.

“I’m starving.” He nodded. It wasn’t a lie. He’d only had coffee for breakfast. 

“Where’s Morgan?” Peter asked and Tony finally put his finger on what was wrong with his kid’s voice. It sounded nasally.

“She spent the night at friend’s house. Tony’s going to pick her up this afternoon.” Pepper said.

“Wow that’s…” Peter let whatever he was going to say trail off.

“That’s what?” Tony asked.

“Brave? I mean I always thought you were kind of a helicopter dad…”

Tony raised his eyebrows at him.

“…so that must be hard for you?” Peter finished.

“No. It’s fine.” He denied and Pepper snorted as she handed his plate of pasta to him. Peter didn’t need to know the details of the hours long discussion they’d had before agreeing to let Morgan stay overnight at her friend’s house, Pepper being for it and Tony being adamantly against it.

Peter smirked and went back to eating. Tony took a few bites of his food but side eyed the kid, trying to figure out whey something wasn’t right about the way he sounded. Had he broken his nose and it healed wrong? It looked fine. 

Peter finished his plate of pasta in record time. “Thanks Pepper.” He said as he got up to rinse his plate and put in the dishwasher.

Tony took another bite of his own food as his eyes narrowed. Peter’s sentence had come out sounding more like ‘Danks Pebber.’

“You’re welcome.” Pepper said automatically but then shot a look over at Tony. She’d obviously caught on to Peter’s weird voice too. He gave her a subtle nod.

“So Pete,” he said as he finished his own meal, “what’s new with you?”

“Nothing much.” Peter shrugged. “Ned got a new pet.”

“Uh huh.” Tony frowned at him. “Why do you sound like your nose is broken?”

Peter rolled his eyes and started walking away toward the couch. “It’s not. I’m fine.” Even though it came out sounding like ‘It’s nob. I’m fibe.’

Tony put his plate in the dishwasher and followed Peter to the couch. “Ok then, if your nose isn’t broken, why do you sound all weird?”

“Allergies.” Peter answered as he flicked through the different channels on the TV.

“You?” Tony asked sarcastically. “Have allergies?”

“Apparently.” Peter shrugged, unaffected.

“Even with your spider powers?”

“Apparently.” Peter repeated.

“Seems a little odd.” Tony opined. “Are you sure you’re not sick?”

Peter shook his head and denied, “I’m not sick.”

“How do you know?”

“I think I would know.” Peter said, arching an eyebrow at him. “Like I’d feel bad and I don’t, so it must be allergies.”

“Uh huh.” Tony nodded. “Sure. You’re not sick. Nothing’s wrong. You just have allergies you’ve never had before.”

“I haven’t been sick since the spider bite either so why would that make any more sense?”

The kid had a point there. After coming back from the snap he’d lived with them for almost a year and he’d never gotten sick, although that could’ve been luck. Now that he’d gone off to college and lived with Ned, Tony worried.

“Ok so you sound like your nose is broken because of allergies…” He still couldn’t bring himself to truly believe it.

“That’s what I said.” Peter huffed.

“You sure you don’t want to get some rest? Or I could get you a juice box?” He offered.

“I’m not sick!” Peter protested.

“All right whatever you say.” Tony let it go but watched Peter like a hawk for the rest of the weekend, but Peter never gave him any indication that something was wrong.

“Tony!” Peter yelled. Tony jerked his head up and smacked it on the bottom of Morgan’s bunk bed that he was in the middle of putting together. He rubbed his scalp and brought his hand away, looking at it. No blood. Well at least he hadn’t cracked his head open.

“Tony?” Peter called out again.

“Up here!” He answered.

“What are you doing?” Peter asked a moment later in the doorway.

“Trying to put this bed together.” Tony complained.

“Looks easy.” Peter laughed.

“It’s not.” Tony said, dragging himself out from under the bottom bunk.

“Need help?” Peter offered.

Tony narrowed his eyes at him. The kid’s question had come out like ‘Neeb helb?’

“Are you still sick?” He asked.

“What?” Peter frowned. “No. I was never sick in the first place. I told you it was allergies last weekend.”

“And what? It’s still allergies?” Tony asked skeptically as he stood and brushed the dust off his clothes.

“Yeah.” Peter answered as if it was obvious.

“How the hell does Spiderman have allergies?”

“No clue.” Peter shrugged. “I used to have asthma and be deathly allergic to peanuts before the spider bite, but ever since I got my powers, I’ve never needed my inhaler and I eat peanut butter all the time without any problem. It’s so good!”

“What?” All of this was news to him.

“Yeah. Didn’t you know that?”

“No! How would I have known that?”

Peter shrugged. “I don’t know. You always say you know everything, so I just assumed.”

“Don’t be a smart ass.” Tony complained as he reached out to press a palm against Peter’s forehead, still not believing all this allergy talk.

Peter immediately jerked away. “I’m not sick!” He insisted, sounding annoyed. Well, he wasn’t warm at least, so whatever it was, it wasn’t serious enough to give him a fever.

“Hmm. So if it’s allergies, why haven’t you taken anything for it?”

“I did! I tried Zyrtec but that was useless with my metabolism and the same thing with Flonase.”

Ah. True. Tony hadn’t considered that.

“And you’re sure they’re not working because you’re actually sick?”

Peter rolled his eyes. “I’m sure dad.” Peter said the last part sarcastically but Tony’s heart still warmed. Peter only ever called him that in jest or when he was being sarcastic, but Tony appreciated it every time all the same.

“Ok son.” Tony ruffled Peter’s hair. “But if this doesn’t get any better, I’m calling Bruce.”

“God you’re so extra.” Peter complained but Tony could see he was smiling.

Tony smiled. “Maybe. Now, do you want to go to the garage and work on those suit upgrades I was talking about?”

“Um duh. Do you even have to ask?”

Tony shook his head, equally annoyed and amused in the way only Peter could make him, but they headed down to the workshop, and the rest of the weekend Tony didn’t notice any red flags besides the congestion causing Peter’s voice to go all wonky, so he didn’t say anything.

“Hey Toby?” Peter’s voice rang throughout the cabin from downstairs two weeks later.

Tony met Pepper’s eyes across the bedroom and they both raised their eyebrows at each other at the obviously persistent voice issue.

“I’m upstairs!” He called out.

“This has gone on long enough.” Pepper whispered to him, aware of Peter’s super hearing. “Figure it out.”

“Already on it boss.” He said and walked out of the room, meeting Peter in the hallway at the top of the stairs. 

“What’s up kid?” He asked as he studied him for any sign of illness. Peter’s eyes were bloodshot and his nose was red with a darkened line across the bridge of it, something he’d never seen on him before, but otherwise he looked ok.

“Nothing.” Peter shrugged as if everything was all hunky dory even as he reached up to swipe at his nose.

“Nothing.” Tony repeated skeptically.

“Yeah. Why?” Peter’s brow furrowed.

“Because you look like an extra for a zombie movie kid!”

“I do?” He sniffled.

“Yep. I’m calling Bruce.” He said, already pulling out his phone to text his friend.

“No!” Peter protested, snatching the phone out of his hands.

“Hey.” Tony warned. “Give that back. You remember our deal? I told you two weeks ago that if this didn’t get better we were getting Bruce involved.”

“I never agreed to that.”

“Well too bad because this looks like it’s getting worse and you haven’t said a thing about it.”

“Because I’m fine! It’s just allergies.”

“Give me my phone.” Tony ordered as he held his hand out expectantly.

Peter eyed it for a moment and Tony lifted his eyebrows, daring Peter to test him, before Peter sighed and slapped the phone back in his hand.

“Fine, but if you do call him and make him come all the way up here, you’ll be wasting his time because he’s just going to tell you the exact same thing I’ve been saying.”

“Yeah, we’ll see.” Tony said doubtfully, already typing out a message to his friend. Bruce was nothing if not prompt. He responded less than a minute later.

“He’s on his way over.” Tony held up the phone screen for Peter to see, but his kid just rolled his eyes and pushed past him.

“I’ll be in my room if you need me.”

“Resting? That’s a good idea. You should rest.”

“No. Doing homework. Not resting. Because I’m not sick! It’s allergies!”

Tony hummed in disbelief but let Peter go, wincing as he slammed his door shut behind him.

Pepper peaked her head out of their bedroom. “What did you do?”

“Nothing.” He held his hands up innocently. “Bruce is on his way over.”

Pepper smiled. “Ah. Good.”

He nodded. Now he just had to wait for his friend to tell him he was right, and then they could finally fix his stubborn kid.

He wasn’t right.

“He’s not sick.” Bruce said.

“What?” He asked in shock.

“I told you.” Peter said and way too happy about it.

“Then what is it?” Tony looked down at where his kid sat smugly on the couch.

“It looks like allergies.” Bruce shrugged.

Tony blinked as Peter barked out a laugh. “Ha! That’s what I kept saying and he wouldn’t believe me.”

“Didn’t you used to be allergic to everything under the sun? Before the bite?” Tony asked, none of this making any sense.

“I mean that’s kind of an exaggeration, but yeah, I guess.” Peter shrugged.

Tony shook his head and turned to Bruce. “So if all his previous allergies went away after the bite, then how on earth did he suddenly develop allergies again? And to what? Does this mean his other allergies are back too? Do I need to hide the peanut butter?”

Peter rolled his eyes. “I had peanut butter toast for breakfast this morning so I’m pretty sure that’s still safe.”

“It’s probably environmental.” Bruce explained. “Those allergies are mediated through different pathways.”

“Ok, but that still begs the question, why now? And besides, it’s the middle of winter, what kind of environmental allergies could he be getting into?”

“You’d be surprised.” Bruce said. “There’s still dust mites, mold, pet dander—”

“Wait.” Tony held up a finger and then looked down at his kid accusingly. “Didn’t you say Ned got a new cat a month ago?”

“Yeah…”

“It’s the cat. It’s got to be.” Tony said, finally happy to have an answer. That hadn’t been so hard to solve. Actually it’d been surprisingly easy. He frowned before asking Peter, “How did you not figure this out?” 

“I knew ok! But what was I supposed to do? Tell Ned that Fluffy had to go?” Peter threw his hands up in the air.

“Fluffy?” Tony made a face.

“He’s a rescue. I can’t ask Ned to kick him out when he just found his new home. How do you think that would make him feel?” Peter said, sounding way too emotionally invested for this to just be about the cat. “He doesn’t have anywhere else to go.”

Tony cleared his throat. He’d had almost six years with Morgan to get used to showing emotions, and he’d gotten much better, but he still didn’t love doing it in front of an audience.

He knelt down so he was face to face with Peter, clasping his knees. “I get it kid. But you’re clearly suffering. And Fluffy’s a cat, not a human.”

Peter pursed his lips and Tony could tell that his current argument would get him nowhere.

“Ok, how about this, what if we find Fluffy a new home that’s just as nice. Or better?”

“Um, I might have an idea.” Bruce interrupted and Tony and Peter both turned to look at him. “I could probably synthesize something that would work. It just might take a couple days.”

“Ok.” Peter agreed readily.

Tony sighed. He never liked the idea of pumping new drugs into his kid but he trusted Bruce. “Fine. But if it doesn’t work, we’re going to have another discussion.”

“Fine.” Peter said begrudgingly.

Tony stood and clapped Bruce on the back. “Thanks big green. You’re a life saver.”

“Don’t thank me yet. I have to make it first. And we have to see if it works.” Bruce hedged.

“I’m sure it will.” Tony didn’t have any doubt. If Bruce thought he could make something that would work, then he’d end up making something that would work.

“Hey uh Dr. Banner, how strong can you make it?”

Bruce’s brow furrowed. “What do you mean?”

“Like can you make something that will still work even if Fluffy sleeps on my face?”

Bruce and Tony shared a look. 

“He’s your kid.” Bruce raised an eyebrow at him even as he tried not to laugh.

Tony just shook his head and walked away, muttering, “I can’t believe this.”

“What? Where are you going? Tony!” Peter called out after him.

“I’m going to go call Thor and see if he can put in a word with the big guys upstairs about getting my kid some common sense.” He said, only half kidding.

“Hey!” Peter protested.

He smirked when he heard Bruce say, “Well, he’s not wrong.”

**Author's Note:**

> I switched it up and used one of the alternate prompts today, and I think this one was actually one of my favs this month. Let me know what you thought!
> 
> Come hit me up on [Tumblr!](https://starryknight09.tumblr.com/)


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